Seeking advice

[justseekingadvice]

Hi,
I searched the forums here & the consensus on the doctor forums seem to be that these issues are a small risk:  http://www.medhelp.org/posts/HIV-Prevention/Vaginal-fluids-INSIDE-condom/show/1169703
A year ago I had an exposure which had been making life a misery through worry. I finally decided to get tested & got the results today, it came back negative, thank God.

But, 7 weeks ago, I hooked up with my ex. We broke about 18 months ago up as she quit nursing to be a stripper (I fear someone willing to do that for money would do more). She still strips.

We had protected sex but before this I was "fingering" her & used the same hand to open & put on the condom.  The fluids from her vagina on my hand would have had contact with the inside of the condom which I put on.

Currently I have flu symptoms (was sneezing at the weekend, then developed a sore throat & felt generally bad for during the weekdays this week). I know that flu/colds are common. I live in Sydney, Aus, where it’s the height of winter & flu season. I worried this was ARS related, as I also had a flu/cold 7 weeks previously & a girl I have started dating recently has kissed me etc this week & not come down with a cold or flu, despite it being contagious.

I mentioned this to my doctor with the results today. She said if I worry I should come back & get tested after 3 to confirm I'm ok & finally put worrying about this stuff behind me.

My questions:

* Does this sound like a risk? Would people be suggested to test?

*  Would the test taken 6 weeks after this be accurate or is a test at 3 months the only accurate test? (Pathologist’s results doc said if incident is recent that testing should be after 3 months. Would this be generic or related to my blood sample?)

* Does it sound like ARS & does the fact that it happened after 6 weeks stay consistent with the ARS timelines? Even
though I had cold/flu 7 weeks ago too?

*Would having cold/flu impact the accuracy of the test?

Thanks

[Edward W Hook, MD]

This will need to be the last answer.

The symptoms of the ARS occur simultaneously, not at different times.  EWH  

[justseekingadvice]

Thanks Doctor.
I can't stop worrying about this and I hope I am being foolish, I couldn't even sleep last night through worry. As a side note, when I had diarrhoea it was a Thursday night/Friday morning (I took a tablet for this and it stopped). I started to develop the sore throat leading to head cold on the Monday afternoon. With ARS, would the gap of 3 days between these symptoms exist or would they all experienced together?

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Welcome to the Forum. I'll address your questions.  To summarize however, the exposure you describe is virtually no risk for HIV and despite the fact that your symptoms do have some of the characteristics, statistically, the likelihood that they would be due to HIV, EVEN if your sex had been unprotected, is less than 1% and, in your case following protected sex is far, far lower.  

Please remember that your ex, whether she is just an exotic dancer or had done "more", is still unlikely to have HIV.  Few dancers or commercial sex workers have HIV.  

Let's go to your questions:

Does this sound like a risk? Would people be suggested to test?
No, this was a virtually no risk exposure and would not have lead me to encourage testing for you.  HIV infection is not transferred from person to person through the transfer of genital secretions on a person’s hands or through activities such as putting a condom on with hands that have genital secretions. Further, masturbation ("fingering") is not a risk for HIV.

*  Would the test taken 6 weeks after this be accurate or is a test at 3 months the only accurate test? (Pathologist’s results doc said if incident is recent that testing should be after 3 months. Would this be generic or related to my blood sample?)
There is no need for a test at 3 months.  Currently used tests provide completely accurate results at 6-8 weeks following exposure.  The three month recommendation is out of date.

* Does it sound like ARS & does the fact that it happened after 6 weeks stay consistent with the ARS timelines? Even
though I had cold/flu 7 weeks ago too?
The ARS can VERY RARELY occur as late as at 6 weeks.  The symptoms of the ARS can include flu-like symptoms and diarrhea; despite that, most people with such symptoms do not have HIV but instead have some other, more typical every day viral illness of the sort most people get from time to time.  In your case, if your symptoms had been due to the ARS, since the ARS is a sign of antibody production to the HIV virus, your test would have been positive if your symptoms were due to HIV.  

*Would having cold/flu impact the accuracy of the test?

No, have a cold/flu would not have any impact on the accuracy of your test.

I hope my comments are helpful.  You really need not worry about HIV based on the events and exposure you mention.  I hope your cold gets better quickly.  EWH

[justseekingadvice]

I should add, that a couple of days before coming down with that cold/flu I had diarrhoea. Thanks